The dense morning fog deposited a multitude of water droplets on the leaves of our rose bushes. Every square inch was touched with a moisture laden blessing.
nature photography
Yes its name is Question Mark
This unique butterfly was spotted in our screen room tent right outside of the back door. This butterfly is interesting as it will winter over by hiding in protected spaces. It lives on tree sap, rotting fruit and animal droppings. It only drinks nectar as a last resort. We’ve never seen one before.
Roses opened
A couple of days ago we posted a picture of two buds. Today they both opened and showed off their color.
Blue Jay blue
The Blue Jay is a very striking, large and loud songbird. It is one of those birds that we always enjoy seeing in our yard and at our feeders. Jays like shelf feeders over hanging feeders.
In the picture you can see the bird’s crest is down. This is common when Blue Jays are feeding peacefully or interacting with their family groups.
Pretty phlox picture
Couldn’t resist the alliteration. These phlox are pretty, regardless.
Could have been embarrassing
Sher and I see it everyday: squirrels hopping from tree to overhead lines and back again. This morning we saw a juvenile squirrel almost miss.
This fellow was going from the tree branch to the immediate left over to the wire. Usually a small stretch is all that’s required. He missed getting his back legs on the wire, and he ended up in the position you see. A little struggle and he was successfully on his way down the wire.
Brood X cicada invasion is in our backyard
Ok, maybe one cicada sighting doesn’t rate “invasion”, but we have been waiting for these ugly things to emerge. Brood X is the designation given to this bunch of cicadas, who have been underground for 17 years. You can read all about them just about everywhere.
It was long after dark when we spotted one hanging on a tarp that we had over some stuff on a couple of card tables. The cicada is crawling out of its now hard shell.
Starting to leave its shell
Doing a back bend to get out
This morning the cicada was beside its now abandoned shell. Usually they are on tree trunks at this point, but this guy ended up on a green tarp.
Finally free, its just chilling
Side view: you can see details of the cicada and its abandoned shell
Like I said, we’ve been waiting for the cicadas to emerge. The weather has been hot enough that the soil should have been warm enough a couple of days ago. Oh well, at least things are starting to happen. It will remain to be seen how many cicadas will emerge in our yard, or in our town. And maybe this one we have will start producing that loud obnoxious sound today.
Feeding frenzy, starling style
Today the juvenile starlings were at it again: following parents around everywhere looking for the food handout. Today the youngsters figured out that they didn’t have to stay on the ground. Looking at the short video, you can see the gray colored youngsters in the tree, waiting for the parents to grab a piece of the suet and then feed them.
The din produced by the constant loud squawking of the youngsters was there all morning.
Ready for an afternoon of bird watching
It is a beautiful day partly sunny pretty warm but nice in the shade with a slight breeze. Lots and lots of birds today should be a wonderful afternoon of birdwatching.
Red-headed Woodpeckers are nature’s show birds
Today was a little wild with all the new young starlings leaving their nests, and their apparent feeding frenzy with the adults.
Then suddenly Sher and I witnessed the arrival of one of the most striking birds in North America. The Red-headed Woodpecker has beautiful crimson head plumage accompanied by a pure white body and wings that are half white and half ink black. These birds are striking both at rest and in flight. This one was kind enough to stick around on the feeder long enough for the capture you see above.
Roadtirement 